Mesih Mehmed Pasha Mosque

About

The Mesih Mehmed Pasha Mosque, in Turkish the Mesih Mehmed Pasa Camii, stands in the historic Fatih district of Istanbul. It was commissioned in 1584 by the eunuch statesman Mesih Mehmed Pasha while he served as third vizier under Sultan Murad III, and was completed in AH 994, the year 1585-86. The foundation inscription on the building and a second on the triple ablution fountain at the perimeter wall both carry that date.

The mosque is traditionally counted among the works of Mimar Sinan, though his involvement remains a question for scholars: Sinan was on pilgrimage to Mecca in 1584, during which time the royal architect Mehmed Subasi acted in his place. Sinan included the mosque in an early draft of his autobiography but omitted it from a later version.

Built on a sloping site, the mosque rests its western flank on a vaulted substructure of shops, the eastern side opening onto a forecourt arcaded on three sides with pillared galleries. The north facade carries a double portico of five arches, and the lead-covered main dome, 12.8 metres across, rises on a drum of twenty-four windows braced by eight turrets, with five half-domes forming the exedras.

At the centre of the forecourt, in place of the customary fountain, lies the grave of Mesih Pasha himself. He had obtained permission to be buried beside his foundation in 1587 and died in 1589, his tomb completing the ensemble of the mosque he had endowed.

History

Mesih Mehmed Pasha spent nearly six years as governor-general of Egypt in Cairo before returning to Istanbul in 1581. He rose to become second vizier in July 1584 and then grand vizier between December 1585 and April 1586, the four-month period during which his mosque was completed. The triple fountain on the perimeter wall was refurbished in 1817-18, preserving the foundation inscription that records the original date.

Significance

The mosque stands as one of the late Sinan-era foundations of Istanbul, a Friday mosque shaped by the conventions of imperial Ottoman architecture and adapted to the demands of a steep urban site. It carries the memory of Mesih Mehmed Pasha and remains a place of prayer in the heart of historic Fatih.